British Brewer » Blog Archive » Recipe: Theakston Old Peculier (version 1) Recipe: Theakston Old Peculier (version 1) Posted by British Brewer in Recipes Full recipe and process can be found online here . So begins our journey looking into some classic British Browns and Olds. First up, probably my favorite commercial Old Ale, Theakston Old Peculier from Masham in Yorkshire, England. There is something really satisfying for the homebrewer when brewing an Old Ale recipe. Unlike the English Pale Ales we have just finished, which tend to more delicate and one mistake in any ingredient is heavily punished, it is really hard to mess up an Old Ale. What with the copious amounts of dark Jamaican sugar, Golden Syrup, Chocolate Malt and Molasses to compliment the mainstay Pale Malts and English Crystal. You end up with a rich, smooth almost rum like dark ale that will last forever in the cellar if we ever gave it a chance. So I must say I had a ton of fun with the Theakston recipe and have taken more than a few risks in the quest to faithfully recreate this quintessential Yorkshire Old Ale.

The family owned Theakston Brewery is located in the North of England in Masham, North Yorkshire . A town steeped in brewing history dating back to before William the Conqueror. The village of Theakston, and the namesake of the family was referenced in the Doomsday Book , created in 1089, and the Theakston coat of arms created in 1587 for Sir Richard Theakston whose descendent, Robert, in 1827 went on to create the first Theakston brewery in a pub called the Black Bull. In 1875 Roberts son Thomas takes over the brewery building a new one in the process, which is still used today. The company proceeded to grow buying many local breweries to meet growing demand. In 1984 the Theakston family joins the wave of independents selling to larger firms and finally decided to sell and the brewing of its flagship products moves away from historical Masham to larger capacity breweries of the acquirer.

Now proceeds a story we have become familiar with, bigger company x sells to even bigger company y (in this case Matthew Brown PLC is bought by then North East England brewing giant Scottish and Newcastle, maker of Newcastle Brown, who in turn is taken over by Heineken in 2008). In 2004, as some previously Theakston owned breweries are closed and brewing operations moved as far north as Newcastle, four Theakston brothers buy back the company, making it an independent family owned brewery and in 2009 announced that brewing would again return to Masham after 35 years, bringing the story full circle. On to the ale itself. According the The Real Ale Almanac this is the flavour profile we are trying to recreate: Dark and vinous old ale bursting with complex fruit flavours. Massive winey bouquet of rich fruit with peppery hop notes. Toffee and roast malt in the mouth, deep bitter-sweet finish with delicate hops On to the ingredients. The brewery website was actually very unforthcoming with ingredients. All they have posted is the use of Fuggles hops and a ABV of 5.6%. Its a start.

The Real Ale Almanac was a little more helpful listing pale malt, crystal, unmalted cereal (torrified wheat) and sugars. Fuggles and “other” hops, with an IBU of 29, 48 24 SRM colour, and an OG of 1058. This has to be the toughest challenge we have had yet. Typically by this point we have a complete list of hops and malts and enough variables in colour, gravity and bitterness to fire up the calculator and get to work. Instead we have incomplete hop information and no FG. What is most concerning is the vagueness around “sugars”. In English Pale classification ales sugar is used to bolster ABV with no flavour so its safe to assume cane sugar. With Old Ales all types of sryups and dark sugars are used, imparting dark rum like richness to the finished brew. This is going to be tough (but fun). So time to consult the BJCP classification to see if we can gain any insights into the types of Crystal Malt and sugars used. Old Ales are listed under the classification of Strong Ales .

Here we see Caramel Crystal Malts, and a sparing use of both Chocolate and Black Malts which is to be expected given the rich dark colour but not too much or risk imparting too much of the roasted smokey flavour. This ale is all richness and fruit. It is the following sentence in the BJCP guidelines that could help answer our question: Adjuncts (such as molasses, treacle, invert sugar or dark sugar) are often used, as are starchy adjuncts (maize, flaked barley, wheat) and malt extracts This helps greatly. So I then took to the internets and enquired into the sugar mix employed by other homebrewers attempting to recreate this historic ale. To my surprise I found consistency, the use of Golden Syrup, Molasses and Dark Sugar. The quantities varied but this should be enough to get us started. The big question for me remains the yeast. We know we need fruit but at the same time we need a yeast that attenuates fairly well to get from a OG of 1058 to a final ABV of 5.6% (implied FG of approc 75%).

It cannot be a dry finishing yeast because of the strong fruit flavours in the tasting notes. I scoured the yeast strains available to homebrewers and scratched my head. There are limited Yorkshire yeasts and I could find little to provide the level of fruit and attenuation implied by the data. Finally I got some inspiration from the Pretty Things Old Ale , inspired by Theakston Old Pecuilier among others, and their use of German and Belgian strains. So I started digging and hit pay dirt with various Belgian strains. You can have your cake and eat it to providing high attenuation and fruit flavour characteristics. This just leaves the hops. Not so worried here, as the BJCP guidelines for Old Ale state: Hop variety is not as important, as the relative balance and aging process negate much of the varietal character So I am going to stick with Fuggles which will definitely provide the peppery hop notes, and we know the target IBU is 29. The calculator can do the rest. Next stop is to input the ingredients into the beer calculus system on hopville.com and balance the quantities in order to create a workable recipe conforming as best we can to the constraints above.

Theakston Old Peculier ( BJCP Beer Style : Strong Ale, category: Old Ale) 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil OG 1060, FG 1011 6.3% ABV (slightly stronger but this is the mid-point range for the yeast with the 5.6% on the lower) 29 IBU 24° SRM (Dark Brown to Black) Ready to drink in 2+ Months Base Malt and Fermentables: 1 lb 8 oz Dark Dry Malt Extract (60 mins) 9 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins) 4 oz Lyles Golden Syrup (15 mins) 2 oz Black Molasses (15 mins) 8 oz Dark Candi Sugar (0 mins) Specialty Grains: 8 oz Caramel Crystal 60L 3 oz Chocolate Malt Pingback: British Brewer » Blog Archive » Recipe: Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale () Chris Did you use anything special for priming the bottles? I’ve always heard the rumor that Theakstons uses treakle for their live barrels.

Stephen C Jenvey I did, used black treacle from my local British food supplier. 3/4 cup for five gallons. Boiled it in 1pint of water and added to the priming bucket. Enjoy droy I think it should be 48 EBC not SRM. That beer is a deep brown with ruby highlights which you wont get at 48 SRM. Aim for 24-25 SRM. My $0.02 Stephen C Jenvey Thanks so much for the feedback. I definitely misread the almanac, it is written for a British audience hence the mistake. Bniermeyer I followed the recipe exactly, accept adding a little too much molasses by mistake (extra 2 oz.). The OG was 1038 which is too low. Active fermentation lasted only a couple of days. I pitched a yeast starter. The krausen fell after 48 hours. After 4 days the gravity measured 1008. Did I do something wrong? Any ideas? I plan to go to a secondary after 1 week and let it sit for a month, then to a corny keg.

Stephen C Jenvey Did you make a 2.5G batch? The recipe was an small experiment batch. I do have a 5G also on Hopville which I created after I made the experimental batch Let me know. If we need to dig further we can. Farmington_brewing I just found this website and it makes me want to return to England. My wife and I enjoy touring London; We rent an apartment and then spend the time seeing as much as we can. Since we do a lot of walking we need to use the loo once in a while and her suggestion is that we stop in a pub and try a new beer. I homebrew here in the states and make mostly ales. My faviorites are British stouts, porters, old ales, milds, bitters and American IPAs. I miss the pubs and thier great beers. Stephen C Jenvey Thanks for posting. I miss the old country too, especially the pubs. The beer and atmosphere would be hard to recreate here. Its the reason I started homebrewing again and worked on some of my favorite beers. Cheers and happy brewing.

Pingback: A hop too far - Home Brew Forums () HiddenFish Brewhouse Do you have or know of a link to a good all-grain recipe? Also, what’s the composition of Lyle’s Golden Syrup? I brew in Asia, so substitutions are a requirement. Cheers! Stephen C Jenvey I do not have an all grain but I am sure you could replace the DME with some equivalent grain. Lyles Golden Syrup is a rich yellow molasses. You could replicate by making a brown sugar simple syrup. TOP_Brewer Old Ales Old Ales Author: Terry Foster Issue: September 2004 From 19th-Century England to today, a new look at old ales. You're not Peculier if you want to learn about this style of beer. Plus: two old ale recipes The old Victorian hotel above the river is magnificent. Our bedroom, complete with a classic four-poster bed, is reached from the bar by an equally impressive wide staircase. So why did I keep bouncing from one side to another?

I knew I hadn’t had that much beer to drink, just a couple of pints of bitter and two or three more of a dark ale — and I knew it wasn’t very strong because it was so smooth and slipped down my throat so easily. The next day I asked the barman a little more about that ale. It turned out that it was Theakston’s Old Peculier, at a little over 6% alcohol by volume (ABV). There were no microbreweries in England in those days and I was used to beers at 4.0% ABV or less. No wonder navigating the staircase had been so difficult! Old Peculier is a dark, moderately strong, lightly hopped, full-bodied beer, considered by some to be a classic old ale. It remains a classic of today, although its original gravity has been dropped a couple of points, to 1.058 from 1.060. The Emergence of Old Ale In the first half of the 18th century, English brewers began move away from long storage of beers.

The equation was quite simple — a lot of money could be saved if you got the return on the cost of brewing in 2–3 months, instead of a year or more. So brewers started to produce what they then called “running beers,” which were shipped from the brewery to the pubs after a much shorter storage period than had previously been the case. Of course, it wasn’t quite as simple as that at first, as this meant a decided change in flavor. One way around this, was to keep smaller amounts of beer for a very long time, and use for blending with fresh beer to get the kind of taste the drinker was looking for. In some cases this was done at the brewery, while in others some aged beer was shipped along with running beer, and blended by the publican himself. There was even a machine invented and patented as far back as 1790, for mixing “mild” and “stale” porter. In those days these words had a different meaning than they do today. “Mild” simply meant new, while “stale” referred to well-matured beer.

Mild stayed around until the present day, although modern mild bears little resemblance to that of early 19th century milds. But the term “stale” did disappear. By the 1850’s, when porter was declining in popularity, some brewers were offering “Old Ales” directly to the public houses. These were beers brewed specifically to be kept for a year or more at the brewery and apparently brewed to their own separate recipes. In other words, they were not meant for use in adjusting the flavor of running beers. These kind of beers later came to be known as stock ales. Aged porters kept for this purpose became known as keeping porters by brewers, and were not normally sold to the public. Old ales had another significant characteristic — an acidic flavor. In 1890 an English brewing consultant stated that this was a “sub-acid” flavor. Around 1900 the yeast responsible for secondary fermentation in English stock ales was identified in the Carlsberg laboratories in Denmark, and given the name Brettanomyces. This species is responsible for the so-called “horse-blanket” flavor in spontaneously-fermented Belgian lambic beers.

However, analysis of old and stock ales, both English and American, carried out by Wahl-Henius around 1880–1900 indicated that they contained significant amounts of lactic acid. This would most likely be the source of the “sub-acid” flavor, and probably came from Lactobacilli in the staves of the wooden storage vessels used in those days. Information on 19th century old ales as such is scarce. From those recipes that are available, they were usually brewed to around 1.080 OG, mainly from either all pale malt, or combinations of pale with amber malt. Mashing temperatures were probably on the high side (154 °F or higher) so as to give a dextrinous wort, and a relatively high finishing gravity, around 1.025–1.035. Modern Old Ales In 1880 England instituted a tax system based on the original gravity of beers. This made strong beers significantly more expensive to brew than weaker ones. Consequently, from that time there began a decline in average beer strengths. The inevitable result of these factors was that Old Ales as such became much less popular.

By the time I started drinking beer in the late 1950’s, you would occasionally come across the odd draught beers called old ale, but this was often just a marketing trick. Such beers, as they were not old in any sense, and were simply running beers, amounted to nothing more than a slightly stronger than usual mild. There were some genuine old ales, but now they were likely to be only bottle-aged. A change in this approach came from Eldridge, Pope, a small brewery in Dorset, when in 1968 they introduced Thomas Hardy Ale, commemorating the writer’s death sixty years earlier. Although produced only from pale malts, its high OG of 1.125 resulted in it being a dark amber color, and it was stored at the brewery for a year or so before release. It was originally intended as a one-off, but was successful enough that the company decided to continue it. It was produced as a bottle-conditioned beer, and vintage-dated, with the early bottles recommending on the label that it could be kept for a as much as 25 years before drinking!

The important point about this is that Hardy Ale was presented as a beer of distinction, as a result of which it gradually achieved cult status among England’s beer-drinkers. Eldridge, Pope hived off their brewing operation in the 1990’s, and this beer continued to be produced by the now aptly-named Thomas Hardy company, who finally gave up their namesake ale in 2003. It is now brewed by the micro O’Hanlon’s, largely for the American market. In the early 1970’s came the start of CAMRA, the consumer organization pledged to prevent the disappearance of cask-conditioned ale in Britain. A side effect of this campaign was a renewal of interest in beers of unusual distinction and character. A notable example was that of Old Peculier, which rapidly developed a high reputation. Theakston’s small family brewery, in a misguided attempt to expand rapidly, went through a number of contortions before falling into the hands of Scottish Newcastle, who themselves had by then become the biggest brewers in Britain. The good news about that was that Old Peculier now had a lot of marketing muscle behind it, and became more widely available in Britain and North America.

Just this year, the circle was completed, and the Theakston family bought back their brewery in Masham, but that’s another story. All this helped to revive interest in other similar beers, such as Gale’s Old Prize Ale, Robinson’s Old Tom and the related Winter Warmers and Barleywines. The result is that although old ales are only produced in limited quantities, and there are only a relatively small number of commercial versions, there are enough for us to define the style. These beers should be amber to dark brown in color, with the emphasis on malt character, rather than hop aroma and bitterness, which should be muted. Fruity, estery notes, and some diacetyl can all contribute to the complexity of these beers. Brewing Old Ales Pale malt is the main source of fermentable extract, although a mild ale malt would work well, too. We want to emphasize maltiness in this beer, so a relatively high mash temperature of around 154 °F (68 °C) is appropriate. Substituting 15–20% of the pale malt with Munich malt will also help in this respect. This kind of beer works very well with pale malt extract as a base.

To increase the mouthfeel and add a little sweetness, crystal malt is a must. Go for the darker, more caramelized varieties, (from 60–80 °L), but don’t overdo it. We are looking for subtle complexity in this style, and don’t want any flavors sticking out like a sore thumb. For my taste, 1/2 to 1 lb. per 5 gallons is sufficient. For more complexity, and an increase in color, a little roast malt works wonders. For me, chocolate malt works best, adding a slight reddish hue, and a muted roastiness. Black malt is favored by some brewers, but can add some harshness we don’t want in this brew, so must not be overdone. In both cases, I would add no more than 1/4 lb. roast malt. There are two other candidates for addition here, flaked corn and corn or cane sugar, both being used in Old Peculier. These should only be added at the rate of around 10% of the total grist, and will only increase alcohol and make the beer lighter for a given gravity. The reason why British brewers use these is simply to reduce the nitrogen content of the beer.

In other words to lower protein residues, and thus reduce chill-haze. Frankly, I do not think chill-haze is really a problem in a beer of this color, and I do not normally use these adjuncts myself. If you feel the need to add fermentable material in order to hit target gravity, then why not either use malt extract, or a dark sugar. The latter will add a slight rum note, which goes quite well in this type of beer. When it comes to hopping old ales, we certainly do not want to overdo it. I actually think you want to be in the range 30–40 IBU for bitterness, although the BJCP homebrew contest guidelines give 65 IBU as the top end of the range. Preferably, you want a fairly mild hop, for both bittering and aroma and English Fuggles fit the bill admirably, but can be substituted with Challenger or Northdown. You simply need a good top-fermenting ale yeast, preferably one which will give some fruity estery flavor to the beer, rather than a so-called “clean” yeast.

White Labs WLP002 English Ale, or WLP004 Irish Ale are good, as are Wyeast 1028 London Ale, and 1098 Whitbread. Aim for 65–70 °F for the primary, but with these yeasts, it won’t matter too much if the temperature drifts a little above 70 °F. Properly brewed, an old ale makes an excellent fireside companion in a cold winter. And the next winter. And . . . OLD ALE RECIPES (5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains) OG = 1.058–1.063 FG = 1.015–1.020 IBU = 30 SRM = 24 ABV = 5.6–6.2% Ingredients 6.6 lb. (3.0 kg) pale liquid malt extract (Coopers or More Beer English Extract) 1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) dry malt extract 1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (60 °L) 0.25 lb.

(114 g) chocolate malt 7.33 AAU UK Fuggles hops (60 mins) (1.5 oz./42 g of 5.0% alpha acids) 0.5 oz (14 g) Fuggles hops (15 mins) Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) yeast 0.5 cup corn sugar or dried malt extract (for priming) Step by Step Add crushed specialty malts to 1 gallon (3.8 L) of water in your brewpot, heat water to about 170 °F (77 °C) and strain off malts. Add water to the “grain tea” to make about 3 gallons (11.4 L) and bring this liquid to a boil. Once it begins boiling, turn off the heat and add the malt extracts, stirring well to ensure the extracts dissolve properly. Bring the wort to a boil and add the bittering hops. Boil for one hour, with flavor hops added for the last 15 minutes. (As an option to increase hop utilization, you can withold 3–4 lbs.

(1.4–1.8 kg) of extract until the final 15 minutes of the boil.) Strain, or siphon, the wort off from the hops and add cold water sufficient to obtain the starting gravity of 1.060. Cool the wort to around 70 °F (21 °C), pitch with yeast starter and allow to ferment. After 5–7 days of fermerntation, the final gravity should have been reached. At this point, rack into a glass fermenter. One to two weeks later, rack again, prime with dried malt extract or corn sugar, and rack beer into keg or bottles. Allow to condition for at least three months before drinking. Note that although this is not intended to be a clone as such, this beer should be somewhat similar to Old Peculier — smooth and very drinkable for its strength. OLD SOLDIER ALE OG = 1.070 FG = 1.018–1.025 IBU = 35 SRM = 21 ABV = 5.9–6.9% Ingredients 12 lb.

(5.5 kg) 2-row pale malt (for example, Maris Otter) 2.0 lb. (0.9 kg) Munich malt 0.5 lb.(0.227 kg) crystal malt (60 °L) 2.0 oz (57 g) chocolate malt 8.0 AAU Willamette hops (90 mins) (1.45 oz/41 g of 5.5% alpha acid) 1.5 oz (43 g) Willamette hops (end of boil) White Labs WLP004 (Irish Ale) or Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale) yeast 0.5 cup corn sugar or DME (priming) Step by Step To ensure a good fermentation, it is best to make a half-gallon starter of the original yeast culture. Three days before brewday, make starter by boiling 0.50 lb. (0.23 kg) of dried malt extract in 0.50 gallons (1.9 L) of water.

Use a single-step infusion mash at 153–155 °F (67–68 °C) for 1–1.5 hours. (Use ~4.6 gallons (17 L) of water at 165 °F (74 °C) for mash in.) Sparge for one hour, with water no hotter than 175 °F (80 °C), until run-off reaches SG 1.010–1.012. (Expect to collect around 7.3 gallons, although this can vary considerably depending on your system.) Boil the wort for 90 minutes, with bittering hops added after the first foamy head subsides. Add flavor hops as the heat is turned off at the end of the boil. Adjust wort volume with cold water (if needed), and cool to about 70 °F (21 °C). Pitch with yeast starter and allow to ferment. After 5–7 days, final gravity should have been reached; rack into a glass fermenter. One to two weeks later, rack again, prime with dried malt extract or corn sugar, and rack into keg or bottles.

Allow beer to condition for at least three months before drinking. The name of this beer commemorates the fact that this is being written on the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Terry Foster wrote about pale ales in the September 2003 issue of BYO. OG = 1.046 old peculiar | Homebrew Guru 1/2 lb. dark crystal (165°L) 8 oz. dark unsulphured molasses 1-1/2 oz. Fuggles hop pellets @4% 1 oz. Whitbread Gold Varietal hop pellets @5% White Labs English Ale yeast (WLP002) 2/3 cup corn sugar (for priming) Procedure: Toast 1 lb. pale malt, crush along with rest of grains. Heat 15 quarts water to 164°F. Mash in grains, hold 90 minutes at 152°F. Heat 13 more quarts water to 170°F, begin runoff and sparge. Collect 26 quarts sweet wort, add the molasses. Bring to boil, add 1 oz.

Fuggles, boil 30 minutes. Add WGV pellets, boil 15 minutes and add rest of Fuggles pellets. Boil 15 minutes (60 total), remove from heat and chill to 80°F. Take a hydrometer reading, pour into a sanitized fermenter, pitch the yeast and seal. Ferment 10 – 14 days at 65 – 70 °F, rack to secondary and age cooler (55°F) for 14 – 20 days. Prime with corn sugar, bottle and condition 6 to 8 weeks. OG: 1070 IBU’s: 31.5 Notes on style: Old Ales were often just that – leftover milds, browns, porters, etc. put back in the cellar when no longer fresh, sometimes even blended together. Old Ales often developed a sour acidity, due to bacterial infection (Brettanomyces, et al), which became a little part of their typical profile. Some innkeepers went so far as to blend fresh pale ales with old ale as their customers had developed a taste for the sour beer.

Modern old ales are brewed just as stronger ales, not as strong as a barleywine, but bigger and more full-bodied than pale ales and bitters. They age well, and can be kept in the cellar for up to 2 years in most cases. Notes on the brew: My original recipe called for the use of treacle in the kettle instead of molasses. I used to carry Lyle’s Treacle (and Golden Syrup) in tins, imported from England, in the Seven Barrel Brewery Home Brew Shop, but I was unsuccessful in finding it when preparing to brew this beer. Treacle is a dark molasses that doesn’t usually have the same intense burnt-sugar flavor that molasses can have, but in small quantities in a brew like this, it isn’t an absolute requirement. Theakston brews theirs with Fuggles hops only, I decided to change some of them to WGV, just for more complexity.

English Beers - What We Tried on Our Trip - Brew in Review English Beers – What We Tried on Our Trip Tuesday, 07 June 2016 We spent about three weeks in England and tried a lot of English beers, so we thought we’d do a summary of all the beers of we tried. If you read any of our England Beer Adventure series , you’ll know that we tried a lot of beers, not all of them were English beers, but quite a few were. Most of them were pretty good! All up, we tried more than 55 different beers each on our England trip (as mentioned, not all were English). There were probably more, but notes and record keeping often go out the window later in the night. Oops! To put this into perspective, this was more than 18 different beers per week. We tried quite a bit! However, before we sound like alcoholics, let’s get a few things straight: many of the beers were not a full pint! Splitting a bottle of beer between two still counted as “trying the beer” for both people (but a sip did not). We also had plenty of no drinking days.

All in all, this allowed for a good amount of moderation, although we probably overdid it at times! English Beers – Good and Easy to Get Not every beer we had was super crafty. Sometimes we were having a simple pub meal in a small village or we were at a restaurant that wasn’t really beer oriented. The good news is that England has plenty of local beers that are great but still easy to get. Larger English breweries aren’t like big American macro breweries. While these do exist in England, a lot of the easier to find beer is still pretty good. The Theakston Old Peculiar is a great, relatively traditional bitter. It’s got plenty of malty goodness and is packed full of Fuggles hops to produce a very English taste. Is it good? Yeah! Is it a wee bit boring? Perhaps… Black Sheep’s Best Bitter comes from a member of the Theakston family who wanted to go out on his own. Because of this, it’s another traditional bitter. It’s lighter and more easy to session than the Old Peculiar, and very easy to find. And once again, it has plenty of Fuggles in it. Similarly, Timothy Taylor Landlord is another good one.

A very English pale ale, this one’s been around for awhile and, if you’re looking for an easy standard English beer, it’s a good one to go with. Once again, is it the most exciting? No, but it’s still a good beer. Oh, and did we mention this beer showcases Fuggles? As you can see, Fuggles is a very popular hop for English beers. It’s usually used for taste and aroma and showcases mild earthy tones with a bit of grass. Some have even found some mint in there. For those keeping score, Willamette comes from the legendary Fuggles hop . Crafty English Beers There were plenty of great English craft beers to be had as well. We tried quite a few of them! It appears that English craft breweries are making some damn fine beer, but the market is small and many of them haven’t gone overseas. BrewDog is the notable exception here. As most of us know, BrewDog is available almost everywhere these days, and that includes numerous BrewDog bars across the United Kingdom. Love or hate BrewDog, at least punters can walk into tons of cities across the UK and find something reliable and relatively good.

Quantum Brewing Company was able to tread the line well between some more traditional styles and beers that were interesting enough to keep even the biggest beer nerds hooked. These guys are very small, so good luck finding them! We only saw Quantum popping up around Manchester. Well worth hunting down! Five Points Brewing takes us a little further south to London, but we managed to pick up their porter in Newcastle. And boy was it good! Hopefully since we were able to find them in Newcastle, this means it should be pretty easy to find elsewhere. Magic Rock Brewing was the big stand out though. Located in Huddersfield about half way between Manchester and Leeds, all the beers we tried from these guys was great. They were pretty far from being traditional, so if you’re after an “authentic” English beer, perhaps give these guys a miss, but that doesn’t discount how great the beer was. And many, many more. There are some more beer highlights in our England Beer Adventure series, but, in the interest of time, we’ll leave it at those four. As mentioned, there are plenty of great craft breweries throughout England, so it’s not hard to hunt something down.

With this, there was a good balance between the more “out there” American style brewing and the more traditional English and Scottish style of brewing. This was really great to see as the traditional styles are always great, especially as the Brits do them so well. Going further, British interpretation on the new, weird, and wacky is great because the tradition is there. British beers are a lot of fun, and it was well worth the trip! And the Corny British Beers We’ve changed this subsection from English beer to British beers, because we also found some beers that, while good, were a little corny. Craft beer has plenty of funny beer names , but some of the beers we tried, namely in Scotland, really played on where they were from and just general tourist popularity. The Loch Ness Brewery obviously plays on their proximity to the famous loch. In fact, they even use water from Loch Ness (so they say!). Their beer was good but not great, and, to be fairly honest, we probably wouldn’t be talking about it if it wasn’t associated with Loch Ness. Don’t get us wrong, it was a good beer, but nothing to write home about.

Deeside Brewery made some mighty fine beer, and they were proud to be Scottish. So proud that their flagship beer was the Macbeth. Any beer named after “that Scottish play” is OK in our book. And yes, it was a good beer. Cairngorm Brewery , however, gets the award for corny naming conventions. This brewery takes its name from the Cairngorm National Park in the Scottish Highlands, and all of their beers are either named after an animal from the national park, or something stereotypical about the Scottish Highlights. These names include animals such as the Stag, Wildcat, or Callie; or just Highland stuff like Nessie, Sheep, or Witches. The beer was just as much fun as the names though, so we’re not complaining. And Done… Overall, we really enjoyed all of the English beers we had. So much so that it inspired a whole bunch of posts, some great pictures, and even better stories! Hopefully everyone learned something about the beers of England and the United Kingdom. If we missed any favourites, feel free to speak up. We’ll hunt them down and hopefully add them to our beer reviews .

Share this: Best Case DIY Craft Beer - Old Peculiar Retailer Inquiries Old Peculiar Toffee and roast malt in the mouth with hints of ‘rum’ and a deep bitter-sweet finish. Deceptively drinkable at almost 6% alc/vol. Read More Description This dark old ale originates from Theakston’s brewery in North Yorkshire, England. Toffee and roast malt in the mouth; deep, bitter sweet finish with delicate hop underpinning. Peculiar has a certain warmth due to its higher alcohol content (5.7% alc./vol.). Serve at cellar temperature. OG: 1.052-56 ABV: 5.7% IBUs: 18 (Values are approximate) Ingredients Grains: Chocolate Malt, Black Patent, Dark Crystal Fermentables: Light Malt Extract, Molasses Hops: Northern Brewer, Fuggles Read More Description This is the real thing. Very malty, full of hops, a higher than normal alcohol content and an overwhelming flavour. Estry fermentation characteristics are a hallmark of strong beers, and this one is no exception.

Traditionally brewed to survive the rigors of a long sea voyage from Britain to India during the Raj.This strong ale is a great summer surprise and a tasty winter warmer. OG: 1.060-64 ABV: 6.7% ISUs 40 (Values are approximate) Barking Dog Brown Ale Read More Description This dark North American brown ale is more assertive than its British cousin. Rich chocolate malt character combined with a very subtle smokiness. Serve cool. OG: 1.040-44 ABV: 4.8% IBUs 20 (Values are approximate) Bee-Mans Honey Brown Ale Read More Description The subtle taste of honey blended with the chocolaty velvet smoothness of a brown ale is a combination too good to miss. Light hop bitterness and smooth texture. Serve chilled. OG: 1.046-50 ABV: 5.3% IBUs: 15 (Values are approximate) Belgian Farmhouse Saision A hot day session beer with tangy citrus notes, and rye, which lends a unique spicy character to this interpretation of a Belgian classic.

Read More Description Traditionally brewed at the beginning of spring as the cold months come to an end; Saison is a delicate blend of fruit, citrus and spice flavors. Sometimes this beer is also referred to as a “Farmhouse Ale” due to its Belgian roots of quenching the thirst of hard working farmers. Our version has a good amount of rye to add to the natural spiciness of this unique session beer. OG: 1.048-52 ABV: 6% IBUs: 22 (Values are approximate) Best Coast IPA Read More Description A full half pound of hops in every batch! Hoppy IPA’s might have originated on the WestCoast, but the BEST ones are made right here! Experience first hand, the Halifax ‘hop’ explosion. Here’s our version of this ‘full-on’ beer for ‘hop heads’. The hoppiest recipe we’ve ever made. Not for the faint of heart. These “North American” style IPA’s are much more citrusy than their British Cousins. But beware; at 6.4%, this brew can creep up on you.

OG: 1.060-64 ABV: 6.7% IBUs: 60 (Values are approximate) Cascade West Coast Pale Ale Crisp, clean & well balanced with lots of hops! Read More Description West Coast Pale Ale is different enough from its British cousin to have gained its own designation as a “classic style”. Golden in colour, This crisp, clean beer has a floral aroma from the distinctly North American Cascade hops. Unlike British pale ales, strong fermentation characteristics (esters) are not a hallmark of this style. Serve cold, 36-45° F. OG: 1.048-52 ABV: 5.5% IBUs: 30 (Values are approximate) King's Royal Red Bitter This is a traditional English style bitter. A fresh East Kent Goldings hop aroma balance this tasty ‘session beer’. Read More Description This is a typical English style ale. It derives its reddish colour from a small amount of roast barley. It has a balanced yet pronounced hop bitterness, and a fresh hop aroma. It has a low carbonation level, allowing its character to come through. Serve at cellar temperature 50 - 55 degrees F.

~ 10 - 14 degrees C. OG: 1.040-44 ABV: 4.8% IBUs: 22 (Values are approximate) Northern Lights Read More Description This is an excellent example of what Canadian ale should be. It is golden coloured, crisp, and clean. Those who like it... Delightfully refreshing. Serve Cold. OG: 1.044-48 ABV: 5% IBUs: 14 (Values are approximate) Old Peculiar Toffee and roast malt in the mouth with hints of ‘rum’ and a deep bitter-sweet finish. Deceptively drinkable at almost 6% alc/vol. Read More Description This dark old ale originates from Theakston’s brewery in North Yorkshire, England. Toffee and roast malt in the mouth; deep, bitter sweet finish with delicate hop underpinning. Peculiar has a certain warmth due to its higher alcohol content (5.7% alc./vol.). Serve at cellar temperature.

OG: 1.052-56 ABV: 5.7% IBUs: 18 (Values are approximate) Peat McFuggles Scottish Ale This traditional Scottish classic accents malt over hops. It also gains a touch of smokiness from peated malt. Read More Description This deep, traditional Scottish classic is similar to an English bitter with the accent more on malt than on hops. This example displays a slight smokiness due to the addition of a small amount of peated malt. It is sometimes called “80 Shilling” in reference to the amount of tax they used to pay on a barrel. Serve at cellar temperature. OG: 1.045-49 ABV: 5.2% IBUs: 16 (Values are approximate) Piccadilly Porter Read More Description Porter originated in London, England, as a blend of stout and pale ale. It flourished for over two centuries before fading away to near oblivion. Revived by micros and homebrewers, this beer is dark (almost black) but not as roasty as a stout.

Some subtle chocolate notes, and relatively low bitterness, make this flavourful session beer as popular today, as it was among the Street and River Porters of London’s past. Serve cool. OG: 1.045-49 ABV: 5.2% IBUs: 18 (Values are approximate) Rory's Irish Red Ale Read More Description Ireland’s second most famous beer style (sometimes called amber), has become increasingly popular with North American Micros. This flavourful, well balanced ale, is a great starting place for those uninitiated with the wonderful ales of the U.K. Serve cool. OG: 1.044-48 ABV: 5% IBUs: 30 (Values are approximate) “Silly Yak” Gluten Free Beer Golden, crisp and refreshing with a touch of honey and a citrusy, hoppy finish. Read More Description This is the answer if you can’t have gluten but you really like beer. A touch of honey adds a unique character. Light and refreshing with a distinct hop flavour. Can be used as a base for gluten free fruit beer. Serve cold.

Please Note: While none of the ingredients in this beer recipe contain gluten, we cannot guarantee that they have never been in contact with trace amounts or been processed in facilities that also produce products containing gluten. OG: 1.040-44 ABV: 5.3% IBUs: 12 (Values are approximate) Traditional Winter Warmer Our Traditional Winter Warmer has rich toffee tones, an impressive malt complexity, and slight 'warmth' from the higher alcohol content. We’ve also given it a modern twist with hints of citrus, by using American hop varieties to balance the malt. About Our Yorkshire Dales Brewery – Black Sheep Brewery Contact Born and Bred in Masham, North Yorkshire We live in a fast-paced world, but there are still some things worth savouring; our beers and the story of how they came to be being a couple of them. What a story it is too... In the beginning Paul Theakston, founder and Black Sheep, was born into a brewing dynasty. Paul's family and the T & R Theakston firm had been brewing in Masham for five generations before it was finally taken over by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries.

The 'old' family firm had been subject to a series of acrimonious battles which lead to the takeover in the late eighties, and although Paul was offered a role in the 'big' company his heart was always in Masham. So in a brave move, and with a growing family to support, Paul made the decision to leave and follow his heart. Some soul searching soon followed but soon the idea was born, to start afresh. So in an era of bland mass produced beer in 1992, Masham gained a pioneering new brewery, built on traditional values and rescued equipment but designed to brew beer with real flavour. The name 'Black Sheep' was actually the idea of Paul's wife Sue, who came up with it in the kitchen of their family home. Major features of today's Black Sheep Brewery tour are in fact the salvaged wares from other now defunct breweries. The brewing copper, mash tun, hop-back, and the Yorkshire Stone Square fermenting vessels were refugees from other breweries; three of the fermenting vessels were literally snatched from under the ball of a demolition contractor. Black Sheep wasn't just designing a new brewery, but bringing in subtle touches that championed the UK's proud brewing heritage.

Today More than 20 years later, Black Sheep's approach has weathered the most tumultuous time in British brewing history. The sixth generation of the Theakston family brewing heritage is now proudly part of story, with Paul's eldest son Rob as Managing Director, and second son Jo as Sales and Marketing Director. Fans come from far and wide to experience Black Sheep first hand and the visitor centre has become an integral part of the experience . The site boasts a gift shop, a large split level bistro and bar & the always in-demand brewery tours. What's in the name? It is a little known fact that Black Sheep's site once housed an old brewery called Lightfoot's which Paul's grandfather had taken over after the First World War. Paul had originally planned to revive the Lightfoot's Brewery name, but coincidentally, Scottish & Newcastle applied for the rights to the name at the same time. He wanted to convey brewing history, but in such a way that the new brewery would be discernibly different from the old family firm. “ Names were toyed with and it was noted that sheep played a huge part in Masham's history, but it wasn't strong enough alone.

When my wife Sue suggested 'Black Sheep' we knew instantly we had stumbled on something which sat well in the area but ultimately spoke volumes about our attitude to the attempt of the multi-nationals to dominate the brewing industry. What's more we captured the essence of the family struggle that led to our birth ” Theakston Legendary Ales - Our Brewing Process Our Brewing Process 1 - Barley being soaked 1 Best quality English barley is soaked in water to germinate and then kiln dried to produce malt - the first stage in producing the sugars needed for fermentation. 2 - Hops ready for brewing 2 Theakston beers contain only the finest quality full-leaf hops, almost all English,an essential ingredient in preserving the beer and providing aroma and dry flavours. Some more recently developed cask beers contain full-leaf hops from overseas. 3 - Grinding malt into grist 3 Selected malts are gently ground through the rollers of our ancient mill to produce grist. The Malts are carefully blended to provide the correct flavour for each type of beer. 4 - Mashing 4 Grist is infused (like tea) in hot liquor (water) in a large vessel called a mash tun.

In this process the starch in the malt is converted into fermentable sugars. 5 - Extracting the wort 5 When all the fermentable sugars have been converted, the mash bed is sparged with hot liquor (water) to extract the sugar rich liquid known as wort. 6 - Transferring the wort to the copper 6 The sugar-rich wort runs from the mash tun into the Copper ready for boiling and the addition of hops. 7 - Blended hops are added 7 Carefully blended hops are added to the wort in the copper- the different varieties of hops give the beers their distinctive aromas and dry (bitter) taste. 8 - Boiling the mixture 8 The brew is boiled in the copper to concentrate and sterilise the wort, and extract the flavour from the hops. The wort is continually tested for quality, colour and strength. 9 - Hopped wort filtering 9 The hopped wort is filtered through the hop back to remove spent hops and to help in the cooling process.

10 - Cooling the wort 10 The wort is then drawn down from the hop back vessel to the chiller where the hot liquid runs over cold water pipes, cooling it, before passing to the fermentation vessels, at a temperature at which our yeast thrives. 11 - Fermenting the wort 11 The wort is transferred into our fermentation vessels and yeast is introduced. Fermentation lasts 3 to 4 days, converting the fermentable sugars to produce our legendary beer. After fermentation, the beer rests in the vessels for a further 3 to 4 days before transferring to storage tanks prior to racking. Traditionally, it was always said that a brew in the fermenting room was not considered complete until it had 'seen the Sabbath'! 12 - Beer is transferred to the racking tanks 12 The beer is transferred to racking tanks where it will be held and tested before racking into casks. 13 - Quality control 13 The final critical stage of quality control is left to the head brewer who tests for consistency, colour, strength, aroma and taste. Only then will it be passed for despatch.

14 - Barrelling the beer 14 After a suitable settling period, and the head brewer's final approval, the beer is racked into barrels and finings are added to clarify the beer while it is stored. Dry hops may also be added to augment the aroma.

Question: Which English brewery produces a beer called 'Old Peculiar'?
Answer: THEAKSTON'S